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books for adventurous children

Life lessons in space

Time for a middle grade book review … and how could I not be drawn to this absolutely stunning cover? I’d put the poster up in my room any day!

Voluntary alien abduction is an extreme running away from home scenario. It’s written as a series of emails, so gives a narrow first person perspective – this has pros and cons as I actually had sympathy for the single mum. Esme veers between sulky teenager, well-meaning friend, and naive child – I won’t say she reminds me of any of my nieces! I’d have liked more insights into the problems at home to support her decision to leave, but once she starts school in Kratos the story kicks into gear and from then on I raced through it.

Several themes are raised in the story. Family and friendship, regardless of background, is central to the story. Animal rights are also cleverly explored. Serious environmental threads on global warming/ cooling and mining/ diminishing natural resources were hinted at and I really hoped they were going to be developed further.

Overall, it’s a fun read for the younger end of middle grade (7-9) raising some good topics for further discussion in an accessible way.

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Bev Smith has been a secondary school teacher, saleswoman, waitress, wages clerk, youth worker and holiday park entertainments manager. She has scuba dived the Barrier Reef, lived in a village in Namibia, worked for a charity in Thailand, flown over Victoria Falls and paddled in the sea at Bournemouth.

Having single-parented her three daughters, she’s been ferociously playing catch up with this writing lark. She recently completed a Masters in Writing for Children at Winchester University. #galaxygirl is her debut middle-grade book.

Great review, I absolutely love a great MG book and this one looks and sounds totally fantastic and right up my alley as well. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome post and for putting this book on my radar.